Towards the end of the 2023 fall semester, I got into contact with one of the Board members who were present during the annual Maryland Promise Program launch party to show my interest in a program he introduced to me during our first meet called “The Dream Big Foundation”. Upon learning that the Dream Big Foundation was a community in Baltimore that aims to equip young people with the resources and opportunities they deserve to define their path toward success, I became even more interested in the program. I was then presented with a service learning program in which I would tutor students to aid push forward the advancement of this program. During the second week of January 2024, I had an online meeting with my supervisor in which we discussed plans as well as set up a time for me to visit Cherry Hill in Baltimore as well as meet the potential students I would be tutoring. Further, into January, I had a chance to meet with the student as well as their parents, and from there, a study plan as well as the weekly online schedule for the tutoring process was developed. From this meeting, I got an overview of the student’s weaknesses and aspects of which they needed improvements. The specific subject I was to tutor was mathematics and thus after this meeting I carried out research, put together a study packet, study videos, assignments, and assessment, and emailed this plan to both my supervisor and the parents of students. Upon confirmation and approval, starting in February, I had online tutoring sessions twice a week on Thursdays and Fridays. My weekly tasks involved creating tutoring slides, tutoring students, assessing student's understandings, and analyzing their levels of improvement and difficulties for further tutoring tactics.
Overall, working alongside the Dream Big Foundation to improve a community was interesting and inspiring and I would encourage future SGC students to look into this opportunity. Similarly, the best way to get into contact with this program would be to search the Dream Big Foundation and the website is usually the first to pop up. From there onwards information would be available for contact.
With my experience from this site, I learned and explored the collaborative and experimental nature of science concerning mathematics. Throughout my tutoring journey, not only did I collaborate with my supervisor and student's parents, but I also used assessment results from students to build up a plan that targets their points of weakness. From my tutoring experience, I learned the importance of being open-minded to try multiple solutions to reach a specific goal. Similarly, I also experienced the big role collaboration has to play when it comes to accomplishing significant goals that might be rigorous to work on alone.
This experience has opened my mind to see how the little decisions we make in life to either aid a community or our world as a whole can go a long way. I have learned to look at and appreciate the little or big programs we encounter during our daily lives that aim to improve our communities. As per my future endeavors, I plan and hope to keep my work ethic of collaboration as they can bring about impactful outcomes.